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Sociolinguistics from the Periphery "presents a fascinating book about change: shifting political, economic and cultural conditions; ephemeral, sometimes even seasonal, multilingualism; and altered imaginaries for minority and indigenous languages and their users."

Book Information

Title:

Ps in Motion

Subtitle:

On the semantics and syntax of P elements and motion events

Series Title:

LOT Dissertation Series 184

Description:

This study addresses semantic and syntactic issues concerning thecombination of elements of the category P (adpositions, verbal prefixes andparticles) with verbs of motion and (change of) location in the descriptionof motion events.

The general proposal is guided by the idea of a division of labour betweenspatial PPs and verbal predicates in structuring an event and contributingto its overall aspectual make-up. It is postulated that there are two mainways to combine PPs with verbs, namely as predicate modifiers (VP adjuncts)or as secondary resultative predicates (complements to V). Specialattention is paid to the latter possibility, which is analysed as involvingcomplex predicate formation and deriving an accomplishment event structure.Empirical support for this analysis is brought forward by a detailedinvestigation of English, Dutch, German, Russian and Czech data.Furthermore, a broader range of data discussed in the literature, such asRomance languages and data from language acquisition, is taken into accountto address the more general crosslinguistic variation in the description ofmotion events. New constraints on such complex predicate formation areformulated and direct parallels are drawn to complex predicate formationwith other secondary resultative predicates, in particular adjectives.

This thesis is of relevance to researchers of various linguisticbackgrounds concerned with the interaction between semantics and syntax,typology, and more specifically to those interested in the area of eventstructure, inner aspect, and spatial meanings.